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Older workers = more opinionated. Younger workers = more malleable. At least that's what management often think.

by jobigoud 7y ago

WalterBright 7y ago
I was equally opinionated as a younger man, though I was wrong a lot more often :-)
- EliRivers 7y ago
  Yes, well, you're Walter Bright, though. The only name in this thread I recognise (although, to be fair, most people aren't using their real names), and as an aside, a name that a seventy-something year-old Vietnam veteran running an apartment full of automated test machines in Greater Tokyo was surprised I dropped when he told me that the Digital Mars compiler was testing well. That compiler was always well behaved. I wonder if his age would have been an impediment to finding work at in the US; in Tokyo he suffered only the problem of being a foreigner.
mfer 7y ago
In a lot of industries opinion is less of an issue. Wait staff, mechanics, and a lot of other places. Yet, they are experiencing the same thing. For many industries it's something other than opinion
HillaryBriss 7y ago
other HN threads have debated heavily about why the startup industry is centered in SV, given its ultra high cost of living and labor. and yet, despite everything, SV remains at the center. and that's why i think your explanation is closer to the truth. higher salaries for older workers wouldn't matter. what does matter is that management thinks older workers will bring the wrong sauce to the product, exhibit reasonable skepticism of the (probably unsuccessful) product concept, generally fail to buy in to the vision and sass their 24 year old masters.
- pmiller2 7y ago
  The startup sector is centered here because the money (VC firms) is here. The reason for that is largely historical accident.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    Money can easily move. Money chooses to be there due to wanting to be there, good weather, terrain, politics, etc. There is some due to historical effects, but more people than not consider CA coast weather to be pretty ideal, hence the higher cost of living.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - pmiller2 7y ago
      Why move if you can entice people to move into your back yard with all that money and not have to go anywhere? And, weather doesn’t adequately explain the high CoL anywhere outside California or Hawaii. “It’s where the jobs are, so everyone wants to be there does,” and it also explains California. (Hawaii is special— it’s an archipelago, so, cost of shipping goods plus weather is really the best explanation, given the lack of a compelling employment story.)
      - fjsolwmv 7y ago
        Because there is more money in SV. All else equal financially, as it was in 1960s, CA is better. Now all else is not equal, except that cost of living may have finally caught up so residents are paying what the weather is worth.
        pmiller2 7y ago
        And why is there more money? Because more people want to live there than other places. Why is that? That’s where the jobs are. You’re not rebutting my argument at all.

Older workers = more opinionated. Younger workers = more malleable. At least that's what management often think.

WalterBright 7y ago

I was equally opinionated as a younger man, though I was wrong a lot more often :-)

EliRivers 7y ago
Yes, well, you're Walter Bright, though. The only name in this thread I recognise (although, to be fair, most people aren't using their real names), and as an aside, a name that a seventy-something year-old Vietnam veteran running an apartment full of automated test machines in Greater Tokyo was surprised I dropped when he told me that the Digital Mars compiler was testing well. That compiler was always well behaved. I wonder if his age would have been an impediment to finding work at in the US; in Tokyo he suffered only the problem of being a foreigner.

mfer 7y ago

In a lot of industries opinion is less of an issue. Wait staff, mechanics, and a lot of other places. Yet, they are experiencing the same thing. For many industries it's something other than opinion

HillaryBriss 7y ago

other HN threads have debated heavily about why the startup industry is centered in SV, given its ultra high cost of living and labor. and yet, despite everything, SV remains at the center. and that's why i think your explanation is closer to the truth. higher salaries for older workers wouldn't matter. what does matter is that management thinks older workers will bring the wrong sauce to the product, exhibit reasonable skepticism of the (probably unsuccessful) product concept, generally fail to buy in to the vision and sass their 24 year old masters.

pmiller2 7y ago
The startup sector is centered here because the money (VC firms) is here. The reason for that is largely historical accident.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  Money can easily move. Money chooses to be there due to wanting to be there, good weather, terrain, politics, etc. There is some due to historical effects, but more people than not consider CA coast weather to be pretty ideal, hence the higher cost of living.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - pmiller2 7y ago
    Why move if you can entice people to move into your back yard with all that money and not have to go anywhere? And, weather doesn’t adequately explain the high CoL anywhere outside California or Hawaii. “It’s where the jobs are, so everyone wants to be there does,” and it also explains California. (Hawaii is special— it’s an archipelago, so, cost of shipping goods plus weather is really the best explanation, given the lack of a compelling employment story.)
    - fjsolwmv 7y ago
      Because there is more money in SV. All else equal financially, as it was in 1960s, CA is better. Now all else is not equal, except that cost of living may have finally caught up so residents are paying what the weather is worth.
      - pmiller2 7y ago
        And why is there more money? Because more people want to live there than other places. Why is that? That’s where the jobs are. You’re not rebutting my argument at all.